Amused to Death

[Haselsh1]

Well, today, Saturday 25th July I went into my local HMV because my other half informed me that yesterday they had the new release of Roger Water's album 'Amused to Death' on vinyl. I didn't buy it because they had sold it and believe it or not, only had one copy. I have then just purchased it from Amazon at the same price plus a quid fifty for postage. I hope it is considerably better than my original release CD. I should find out sometime next week before Wednesday. HMV couldn't guarantee getting one in before next Saturday.

[Box13]

Well, today, Saturday 25th July I went into my local HMV because my other half informed me that yesterday they had the new release of Roger Water's album 'Amused to Death' on vinyl. I didn't buy it because they had sold it and believe it or not, only had one copy. I have then just purchased it from Amazon at the same price plus a quid fifty for postage. I hope it is considerably better than my original release CD. I should find out sometime next week before Wednesday. HMV couldn't guarantee getting one in before next Saturday.

No wonder the chain is struggling to survive!

[orbscure]

If the vinyl is anywhere as near as good as the uncompressed 24bit/96khz Blu-Ray audio version I've been listening since it arrived yesterday Shaun, then your in for a real treat... this has very much been well worth the wait and I'm looking forward to hearing the SACD version once that become available... :)

[AlfaGTV]

I have not yet heard the vinyl issue as it is still in the mail, but i couldn't resist buying the 24/192 HDTracks release.
It is for once not a simple "compress it a little more, add some treble and bloat the bass"-remaster! :)
When you listen in you will hear some changes, some more obvious than others!

From a pure hifi perspective i'm not convinced the 2015 edition is better in all aspects though, at least not compared to my 1992 MasterSound CD issue.
My original release seem to emphasise the voices that origin from all kinds of weird places around the listening room a bit better. On the other hand the new release seems very dynamic, with beautifully defined deep bass.
Looking forward to hearing the vinyl tomorrow very much!

[YNWaN]

There are two different releases of this album, both released now. One is by Analogue Productions and is an all analogue remaster from the original master tapes and the other is from Sony (both double LP and picture disc) and is digital.

[AlfaGTV]

Hmm... My vinyl relase was delivered today and it is branded with five different companies;
Sony, Analogue Productions, Quality Record Pressings, Columbia and Legacy. (Besides the QSound brand)
It seems to be printed/manufactured in US "by Sony for Analogue Productions"
Anyhow, it is a really nice issue with all you could ask for in a premium vinyl release. Sounds freaking amazing too! I got the double black vinyl edt.
It seems to share the same 2015 mix with the hirez downloads, which differs some from the 1992 version.

[Haselsh1]

I received my copy yesterday and I am very pleasantly surprised by the quality of the whole package. I bought it from Amazon for £34.99 + postage and as usual it arrived in just a couple of days. I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet but I am amazed by just how flat the vinyl is. That's gotta be a good sign.

The one I have is by Analogue Productions

[Haselsh1]

I am of course hoping that this is better than the Genesis reissues. They were bloody awful.

[AlfaGTV]

I wouldn't say the Genesis reissues were bad... But neither were they anywhere near the quality of this.
(The first box of reissues of Genesis were made by Rhino in the US, they were damned good. The subsequent two boxes were nowhere near that level of quality)

[Haselsh1]

I wouldn't say the Genesis reissues were bad... But neither were they anywhere near the quality of this.
(The first box of reissues of Genesis were made by Rhino in the US, they were damned good. The subsequent two boxes were nowhere near that level of quality)

Sorry Mike, I was referring to the remastering and hence the sound quality. I have them all on SACD and the overall sound mix is dreadful. I have never heard early Genesis sound so thin and trebly as these are. I absolutely adore 'Trick of the Tale' because it still features Steve Hackett but the remaster is tragic it is so bad.

[Jimbo]

Just listened to 24/192 digital version of Amused to death reissue. Superb re- mastering keeping intact most of the original recording.

Listened via KEF Blades so very revealing sound. This is a glorious recording, indeed so was the original, however some aspects including the Q sound now seem clearer.

Now got to listen to the vinyl version so hope it delivers the same spectacular sonics.

[Haselsh1]

OK, it is now the 12th August 2015 and last night I compared the vinyl reissue of 'Amused to Death' with my original 1992 CD copy. The vinyl reissue has much more detail of musical interest with many, many threads of music running through songs where I have never heard them before. I found the stereo imaging to be very disappointing overall when compared to the CD which is truly stunning thanks mainly to the Q Sound processing. The vinyl is truly flat and very low in surface noise but I just cannot live without that massive stereo image so I have just ordered it on reissue CD from Amazon.

[Jimbo]

OK, it is now the 12th August 2015 and last night I compared the vinyl reissue of 'Amused to Death' with my original 1992 CD copy. The vinyl reissue has much more detail of musical interest with many, many threads of music running through songs where I have never heard them before. I found the stereo imaging to be very disappointing overall when compared to the CD which is truly stunning thanks mainly to the Q Sound processing. The vinyl is truly flat and very low in surface noise but I just cannot live without that massive stereo image so I have just ordered it on reissue CD from Amazon.

Hi Shaun, how you doing? That was not my experience of Amused to Death on vinyl. I found it massively dynamic with excellent stereo imaging and Q sound perfect.:scratch:

[RichB]

Nope, I won't buy it. I'm sick to the back teeth of bloody reissued this and remastered that, record companies milking back catalogue instead of supporting and developing new artists. Who is the new Floyd? Given the space and tools to experiment in the way they did.

Waters and Glimour topping up their already sizeable pension funds in this way. I love amused to death and have always found my original CD to be nothing less than stunning in terms of sq and production. They've had my bloody money once, more than once in fact, when I think of the various different formats I've bought over the years. I want new music or nothing....

On Saturday nightI I'm going to see a young local band I love and buy several copies of their new EP to give to friends I think will love them but can't go to the gig. Buggers like Waters can be happy with the their dribble of money from Spotify cos that's all he's getting out of me.

We should all be ashamed of ourselves for falling for this crap.

Good evening....

[Jimbo]

Nope, I won't buy it. I'm sick to the back teeth of bloody reissued this and remastered that, record companies milking back catalogue instead of supporting and developing new artists. Who is the new Floyd? Given the space and tools to experiment in the way they did.

Waters and Glimour topping up their already sizeable pension funds in this way. I love amused to death and have always found my original CD to be nothing less than stunning in terms of sq and production. They've had my bloody money once, more than once in fact, when I think of the various different formats I've bought over the years. I want new music or nothing....

On Saturday nightI I'm going to see a young local band I love and buy several copies of their new EP to give to friends I think will love them but can't go to the gig. Buggers like Waters can be happy with the their dribble of money from Spotify cos that's all he's getting out of me.

We should all be ashamed of ourselves for falling for this crap.

Good evening....

I never bought this album first time round on any format. Gave up buying any Floyd after The Final Cut. So this is my first copy of Amused to death and never even heard it when it came out and I am a massive Waters fan. All I can say is that to a fresh pair of ears this is a superb album with a few of Waters best solo tracks.

[Haselsh1]

Hi Shaun, how you doing? That was not my experience of Amused to Death on vinyl. I found it massively dynamic with excellent stereo imaging and Q sound perfect.:scratch:

Yeah, I agree, it is more dynamic on vinyl than CD especially that bloody big explosion in Tripoli. The stereo imaging though is just not there compared to my original copy CD on which the image is cavernous. I have to wait until Saturday to get the CD reissue so I guess that's my Saturday afternoon taken care of. It'll be really interesting to compare the two.

[Haselsh1]

Richard I agree with you to a degree but as around 98% of music currently being written/programmed/released is total and utter dogshite, I feel I have no choice but to concentrate my efforts and therefore my hard earned cash on whatever I choose. If today's new music was even a fraction of what it used to be then I would very happily spend my cash in whoever's general direction but quite frankly, it is utter shite.

[Haselsh1]

I never bought this album first time round on any format. Gave up buying any Floyd after The Final Cut. So this is my first copy of Amused to death and never even heard it when it came out and I am a massive Waters fan. All I can say is that to a fresh pair of ears this is a superb album with a few of Waters best solo tracks.

Hey, I will very soon have this album on original 1992 CD release, vinyl reissue and CD reissue and I truly think it is worth every penny. My original 1992 CD release has a PWB graphite foil on it from when I tried them out, maybe that is why it sounds as good as it does :eyebrows:

[daytona600]

Quote
The vinyl reissue has much more detail of musical interest with many, many threads of music running through songs where I have never heard them before. I found the stereo imaging to be very disappointing

.....................................

vinyl & sacd have a vast soundstage compared to the CD & dynamics are off the scale
couple of customers & friends jumped out of there chairs with the expolsion when i first played it
i compared them to the CD & a uk 1st pressing ( all comments based on the analogue production version )

[RichB]

I never bought this album first time round on any format. Gave up buying any Floyd after The Final Cut. So this is my first copy of Amused to death and never even heard it when it came out and I am a massive Waters fan. All I can say is that to a fresh pair of ears this is a superb album with a few of Waters best solo tracks.

Oh yes its his best solo work, no argument there. Had a big effect when I first heard it. Moved me actually.

[Haselsh1]

Quote
The vinyl reissue has much more detail of musical interest with many, many threads of music running through songs where I have never heard them before. I found the stereo imaging to be very disappointing

.....................................

vinyl & sacd have a vast soundstage compared to the CD & dynamics are off the scale
couple of customers & friends jumped out of there chairs with the expolsion when i first played it
i compared them to the CD & a uk 1st pressing ( all comments based on the analogue production version )

Yes I have to agree with the dynamics of vinyl compared to CD. Are any of you guys familiar with Brand X's album 'Morrocan Roll'...? Have you heard the track 'Hate Zone'...? On vinyl it is bloody vicious whereas on CD it is dreadfully over worked. I think the same is true of 'Amused to Death' except the stereo imaging which was for me a major let down when compared to the CD and I am comparing it to the original pressing CD not the reissue.

[Haselsh1]

Well, received my CD reissue of this 'Amused to Death' so just had a mini session and listened to it. How does it compare to the original 1992 version...? Well the biggest and most obvious thing is that the Q Sound processing is a lot more obvious. There are a lot more musical threads running through most of the songs as well. There is though one very strange thing about this whole reissued album. The track 'The Bravery of Being Out of Range' which I have to add is a storming track is a different version on the reissue to the original 1992 CD. Now I don't mean in a recording or engineering way, I mean that the instruments are played in a totally different way. How about this; suppose back in 1992, Roger Waters recorded two different versions of the same album...? What if he released one version in 1992 and kept one for twenty three years in the future...?

[Jimbo]

Well, received my CD reissue of this 'Amused to Death' so just had a mini session and listened to it. How does it compare to the original 1992 version...? Well the biggest and most obvious thing is that the Q Sound processing is a lot more obvious. There are a lot more musical threads running through most of the songs as well. There is though one very strange thing about this whole reissued album. The track 'The Bravery of Being Out of Range' which I have to add is a storming track is a different version on the reissue to the original 1992 CD. Now I don't mean in a recording or engineering way, I mean that the instruments are played in a totally different way. How about this; suppose back in 1992, Roger Waters recorded two different versions of the same album...? What if he released one version in 1992 and kept one for twenty three years in the future...?

Hi Shaun,

I have listened to the original recording on ripped CD and the new 24bit Hi Rez download and you are correct, the Q sound has accentuated some of the bits recorded in this mode. It sounds like it has been pulled more forward into the mix and so a bit more obvious. And yes 'The Bravery of being out of range' is a different recording, Interesting stuff?

One thing about the vinyl and digital versions. Digital cannot reproduce Q sound as well or precisely as vinyl because of the inherent phase distortions with digital audio production:)
The Q sound on vinyl does indeed sound like it is all around you and behind your head. not quite the same on Digital!

[orbscure]

I knew there was a reason why I should of held onto my record deck, but having sold it, I cancelled the Analogue Production vinyl re-issue I had on pre-order via Amazon (which I see is planned for release at the end of this month)... but having said that, I still have the SACD, the 5.1 mix and the BSCD2 versions to listen to, so all may not be lost... :)

[Haselsh1]

OK, so half way through a weekend and I have come to my first conclusion; the original 1992 recording is by a long way the worst of the three. It is thin and strident sounding when compared to the new reissue. The best of all just has to be the vinyl version.

[Floyddroid]

The ELP Brain Salad Surgery was actually worse than the original and that was bad enough.
I am of course hoping that this is better than the Genesis reissues. They were bloody awful.

[Haselsh1]

The ELP Brain Salad Surgery was actually worse than the original and that was bad enough.

That is such a shame because I prefer 'Brain Salad Surgery' to any of their other stuff. I guess in truth it was my first ever experience of ELP so there's no real wonder it is the only one I truly like. At the time, back in '73, the synthesiser was in its infancy and I just took to it like a young kid would. I loved ELP's use of electronic drums, well, kind of electronic drums.